Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Latest Episodes:

Alex Shahidi and Damien Bisserier – Uncorrelated Return and Balanced Risk at Evoke-ARIS (Capital Allocators, EP.179) Mar 01, 2021

Show notes

Alex Shahidi and Damien Bisserier are the Co-CIOs and of Evoke Wealth and ARIS Consulting, a $19 billion registered investment advisor they co-founded in 2014. Alex came at the business from a long tenure advising portfolios at Merrill Lynch, and Damien joined after nine years at Bridgewater. Our conversation covers their respective backgrounds, shared investment philosophy, and strategy of searching for uncorrelated returns across public markets, alpha strategies, and private markets. We discuss the risk parity approach to public markets, incorporating human behavior when calibrating risk, the sweet spot in hedge funds, uncorrelated private equity return streams, and investment process. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) Feb 22, 2021

Show notes

Rostin Behnam is the Acting Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. He was nominated and approved by the prior administration in 2017 to serve as one of five Commissioners of the CFTC and in January, accepted the role as Acting Chairman.

The CFTC has a mission to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets, working towards effective price discovery and risk management in fair and transparent markets. As a part of his role, Russ sponsors the CFTC's Market Risk Advisory Committee.

Our conversation covers the history, function and process of the CFTC and the Acting Chair's path to the seat. We then discuss his perspective on crypto assets and dive into an exhaustive policy piece published last fall by his Market Risk Advisory Committee entitled "Managing Climate Risk in the Financial System." The document is positioned to become the leading regulatory policy manual on financial climate risk for the new administration.

Our conversation took place shortly before Russ rose to Acting Chairman and before the wild market volatility in recent weeks. We touched base about his perspective, but the situation is too fluid for a public response. Acting Chairman Behnam released brief statement about the silver markets that said, "The CFTC is closely monitoring recent activity in the silver markets. The Commission is communicating with fellow regulators, the exchanges, and stakeholders to address any potential threats to the integrity of the derivatives markets for silver, and remains vigilant in surveilling these markets for fraud and manipulation." Stay tuned, as the subject may well be fodder for another conversation down the road.

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Jennifer Prosek – Business Development and Leadership in a Virtual World (Capital Allocators, EP.177) Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of Prosek Partners, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy and a popular past guest on the show. In our first conversation, we discussed branding an asset management firm and many of Jen's leadership nuggets of wisdom. That conversation follows on the feed. Our second conversation discusses the evolution of marketing and brand development in asset management and how the pandemic has accelerated trends already in place. We discuss business development in a virtual world, including building a digital profile, developing a presentation style, handling significant world events, differentiating from others, and nailing the narrative. We end by turning to lessons Jen learned on internal communication and leadership through the health crisis. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

[REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of Prosek Partners, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, London, Los Angeles and Connecticut. Prosek Partners ranks among the top 10 independent public relations firms in the U.S., and among the top financial communications consultancies. The firm has been listed as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company for nine years running. Jen is also a two-time author.

Our conversation covers the foibles of professional marketing in asset management, building a brand, measuring a successful branding effort, managing the story of weak performance, and describing the differences in hedge fund and private equity branding. We then turn to some of Jen's fascinating observations learned from her experience, including raising entrepreneurial children, working with millennials and Gen Z staffers, and implementing the principals of 'Just Ask', behave with humanity, and not thinking in black and white.

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David Baran and Kazuhiko Shibata – Friendly Activism in Japan at Symphony (Capital Allocators, EP.176) Feb 08, 2021

Show notes

David Baran and Kazuhiko Shibata are the co-founders of Symphony Financial Partners, a twenty-year old Asia-based manager of $1.3 billion in assets. Symphony focuses on deeply undervalued companies in Japan, with a long-bias, constructive engagement strategy to work closely alongside willing management teams to see intrinsic value reflected in the share price. Our conversation covers their early careers in Japan, the country's employee first, shareholder last culture, the resulting disconnect of corporate activity and share price, and the formation of Symphony to invest in the few companies willing to close the gap over time. We then walk through their investment process, including the challenges of taking advantage of what appears incredible value on paper, offering friendly advice as a key component of due diligence, conducting research, and structuring portfolios. We close with a discussion of corporate governance and the necessity of a long-term perspective to thrive in Japan. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

BONUS – Michael Mauboussin on the Decision Education Podcast Feb 04, 2021

Show notes

I am excited to share the first episode of a new podcast called The Decision Education Podcast. It's the brainchild of the Alliance for Decision Education, a non-profit on whose Advisory Board I serve, whose mission is founded on the belief that better decisions lead to better lives and a better society.

In the first season of the podcast, Dr. Joe Sweeney talks to experts and shares tips on all things related to decision making. Today's special episode is Joe's interview with Michael Mauboussin, entitled Base Rates and Bees.

Please enjoy this introduction to The Decision Education podcast, which you can subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

Private Equity Masters: Paul Salem – Providence Equity Partners (Capital Allocators, EP.175) Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

Today's show is a preview of a mini-series coming in a few months, where I'll be speaking with some of the preeminent leaders in private equity to learn more about what the continuing insatiable interest in the asset class is all about. Paul Salem is a Senior Managing Director Emeritus at Providence Equity. Providence is a premier private equity and asset management firm focused on media, communications, education, software and services with $49 billion in asset commitments. Paul joined Providence when it was a $171 million media focused boutique in 1992 and became an integral part of the firm's growth and success ever since until retiring a year ago. Paul considers himself the luckiest guy in the world, which you can hear more about in a TED talk he delivered a few years ago. Our conversation covers Paul's entry to the business, the benefits of specialization, Providence's nice guy advantage, and the development of the firm over three decades. We then turn to the competitive landscape for deals, value of operating partners, evolution of private equity, advice for allocators in the space, and life after stepping away from the business. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Collette Chilton – Humility and Loyalty at Williams College (Capital Allocators, EP.174) Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

Collette Chilton is the CIO of Williams College where she has overseen its $3 billion since 2006. Collette is nothing short of a legend in the business. She has sat in a CIO seat since the early 1990s at the helm of public pension MassPrim and corporate pension Lucent before joining Williams. Institutional Investors bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award on Collette in 2019, and Barron's named her one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance in 2020. Our conversation covers Collette's career path and lessons learned before joining Williams. We then turn to her arrival at Williams in 2006 to a phone, a computer, and a legacy portfolio, Williams' governance structure leveraging alumni advisors, asset allocation, manager selection, manager monitoring, hedge funds, venture capital, and navigating around popular managers. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Fran Kinniry – The Comfort of Paradox at Vanguard Group (Capital Allocators, EP.173) Jan 18, 2021

Show notes

Fran Kinniry is a twenty-three year veteran at the Vanguard Group, where he's led the teams that spearhead Vanguard's research into new products. Fran helped Vanguard enter the direct advice business, developed Vanguard's Advisor Alpha concept, started its Investment Strategy Group, and most recently heads Vanguard's latest initiative investing in private equity. Our conversation covers an overview of Vanguard business, Fran's three roles over a quarter century at the firm, behavioral coaching, and the firm's foray into private equity. We discuss the research process leading to the introduction of private equity, potential scale across institutional and retail clients, timing of the decision, fees, and manager selection. We then close discussing Vanguard's cooperative ownership model, compensation, and the future of index fund. When the industry's leading index fund manager known for low-cost investing steps into high-cost private equity after years of research that showed the benefits of the asset class, those calling for the abandonment of active management should take notice. Like all other practitioners in active management, Fran and Vanguard preach outcomes over costs.

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Chris Dixon – The Future of Blockchain at a16z (Capital Allocators, EP.172) Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

Chris Dixon is a General Partner at Andreesen Horowitz, where he focuses on the a16z Crypto Funds. Before joining Andreesen in 2013, Chris co-founded, built and sold two technology companies and was a prolific seed investor, founding member of Founder Collective, and personal investor. At various spots along the way, Chris was an investor in BuzzFeed, Uber, Venmo, Hotel Tonight, Coinbase, and Oculus, among many others. Our conversation covers Chris' early interest in computers and business, and lessons from starting companies and angel investing. We then turn to his activities since joining Andreesen Horowitz, discussing new computing platforms, a brief history of centralized and decentralized computing, development of blockchain technologies, potential killer apps, token basics, and investor perception. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

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